Ron’s Story

Site created on October 24, 2018

Welcome to Ron's CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Below is Ron's story.  


Ron was recently diagnosed with MDS EB2 which stands for Myelodysplastic Syndrome with excess blasts. This means that he is in an intermediate stage of the disease and his bone marrow is having trouble creating new or mature blood cells. See the link to learn more:  https://www.cancer.org/cancer/myelodysplastic-syndrome.  MDS is considered a type of cancer and if left untreated could progress to acute myeloid leukemia.  1 in 3 patient's with his type of MDS will see a rapid progression to AML.  His current goal is to prepare to undergo a stem cell transplant.  This entails finding a donor that is a match, an intense round of chemotherapy and then the procedure itself. This will all take place at Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit. He will then stay at Karmanos following the procedure for at least one month. For those of you who know Ron, you know that he is quite possibly the hardest worker on the planet and we will fight along with him to kick this to the curb.  


We will update this page as his journey progresses.  Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Katy Mason

Today was a big day. Today, Ron got to walk out of Karmanos and go home to sleep in his own bed. He was admitted for his stem cell transplant 31 days ago. He had some ups and downs but about a week ago things really started to look up. His blood counts improved, some of his not so great (terrible) side effects started to subside and cells have started to engraft. It is the best birthday present he could ask for. Tomorrow he turns 65 and can wake up in the comfort of his own home. He is doing well and will start a new routine of meds and visits down at Karmanos a few times a week. He is ready for challenges that come his way and is keeping a positive perspective. 

We are all so grateful for the love and support over the past few months. A big shout out to the staff at Karmanos for being so kind and helpful during the stay. A special thanks to the best nurse around- Hannah-for taking such good care of Ron. When people are not feeling well, seeing smiles and hearing caring words from the staff is so important and they really nailed it. 

They packed a lot of stuff but the best part was the cutest blue refrigerator around-check it out in the pictures! This was a monumental event and we are so happy he is home. Happy birthday, Dad. 😀 
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